They Are Not Forgotten — Help Us Bring Back Dignity One Meal at a Time

Most people walk past them.

Not because they don’t matter…

but because somewhere along the way, the world stopped seeing them.

On Skid Row, we meet people who were once someone’s child, someone’s parent, someone with plans for their life. Today, they stand in line just hoping someone notices them again.

We do.

At MBI Health Services Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we show up every Monday and cook food right there on the street.

We serve about 300-400 chili dogs, hot, fresh, made the way each person wants it.

We don’t just hand them out. We ask, “What would you like on it?”

Onions? Cheese? Jalapeños?

It may seem small, but for many of the people we serve, no one has asked them what they want in a very long time.

For a moment, they are not invisible. They are not a problem to be moved along. They are just a person being treated with respect.

While people are waiting, conversations start.

Someone asks where they can get help.

Someone opens up about what they’re going through.

Someone takes a flyer they wouldn’t have looked at before.

We bring information on housing, mental health services, substance use treatment, and anything else we can find that might help someone take one step forward.

The food brings them in. The connection is what changes things.

The people who come are not just “the homeless.”

They are seniors with nowhere left to go.

Veterans.

People trying to get clean.

People who have been through more than most of us will ever understand.

Some haven’t heard their name spoken with kindness in years.

We’ve been doing this every week for years, often paying for it ourselves.

We were fortunate to receive a small grant from LA Care that helped us keep going, but that funding has now run out.

We are still showing up—but we need help to continue.

Your donation helps us buy the basics:

hot dogs, chili, buns, toppings, propane to cook, drinks, and supplies to serve the food.

We try not to run out of anything. We don’t want to tell someone “we’re out of that.”

They deserve the same choices and care any of us would expect.

We also need people, volunteers who are willing to serve food, hand out information, or just stand there and talk to someone like they matter.

Because sometimes the most important thing we give is not the meal.

It’s the moment someone feels seen again.

MBI Health Services Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3), so any donation you make is tax-deductible.

But more than that, it goes directly to people who need it right now.

We don’t want to stop.

We don’t want to miss a Monday.

We don’t want to turn anyone away.

If this speaks to you, please give what you can.

And if you can’t give, sharing this helps more than you know.

Because no one should feel invisible.

And right now, too many people do.